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Saturday, May 31, 2014

MATERIAL SPECIAL New
self-healing plastics developed through crosslinking reaction

Self-healing
materials can repair themselves by restoring their initial molecular
structure after the damage. Scientists of the Karlsruhe Institute of
Technology and Evonik Industries have developed a chemical crosslinking
reaction that ensures good short-term healing properties of the material
under mild heating. The research results have now been published in the Advanced
Materials journal. The KIT group headed by Christopher Barner-Kowollik
uses the possibility of crosslinking functionalized fibres or small molecules
by a reversible chemical reaction for the production of self-healing
materials. These so-called switchable networks can be decomposed into their
initial constituents and reassembled again after the damage. The advantage is
that the self-healing mechanism can be initiated any time by heat, light or
by the addition of a chemical substance. "Our method does not need any
catalyst, no additive is required," Prof. Barner-Kowollik says.

Excellent healing properties in few minutes

It
took about four years of research for the working group of Barner-Kowollik,
together with the Project House Composites of Creavis, the strategic
innovation unit of Evonik, to develop a novel polymer network. At comparably
low temperatures from 50°C to 120°C, the network exhibits excellent healing
properties within a few minutes. Reducing the time needed for healing and
optimizing the external conditions, under which the healing process takes
place, are the major challenges of research relating to self-healing
materials. Using the healing cycle developed by them, the KIT researchers
have found a large number of intermolecular compounds that close again within
a very short term during cooling.

Mechanical
tests, such as tensile and viscosity tests, confirmed that the original
properties of the material can be restored completely. "We succeeded in
demonstrating that test specimens after first healing were bound even more
strongly than before," Barner-Kowollik says.

The
self-healing properties can be transferred to a large range of plastics
known. Apart from self-healing, the material is given another advantageous
property: As flowability is enhanced at higher temperatures, the material can
be molded well. A potential field of application lies in the production of
fiber-reinforced plastics components for automotive and aircraft industries.

From
clearing inboxes and sifting out things in your phone to blitzkrieg typing,
these apps are all about professional efficiency

Wave
To Get To Inbox Zero
If you tend to collect a nice mess in your Inbox, you need help! Else, you'll
constantly find yourself drawing a blank when someone asks why you didn't
answer mail or keep wondering where that important email went. Mailbox comes to
the rescue. A veteran on the iOS, it's finally on the Google Play Store, for
free. The app — with its convenient interface — lets you organise your mail
with gestures. A simple swipe allows you to archive, delete, add to a list,
snooze for later, etc. This gets more specific over time. Make a habit of it,
and soon your Inbox will get to that coveted size zero that is so prized in the
corporate world. Simply, Mailbox turns your Inbox into a task manager. This one
is for those who have a lot of stuff on their Android phones or for anyone who
gets frustrated looking for things that just can't be found in a hurry.

The Google For Your Phone
Our smartphones are like the humungous bags we used to carry, in which one
would spend several minutes trying to fish out that one thing. Fear not, SRCH2
is a free app that very quickly looks for anything on your device. Ideally, it
could have done with an interesting widget, but you can also just park it at
the bottom row of apps on the home screen for quick access. One tap will open a
browser-like interface. Search for a contact, app, music, photos, messages,
documents or something on the Web. The results are instant and some are
actionable such as calling or messaging a contact. When you search for a
contact, you get a little bit of the recent history of interactions because
messages etc., also show up. If I have a crib against this app, it's just that
I think it could have been much more elegant.
Need For Speed? Get Swift About It
On an Android device, you can use Swiftkey, Swype or any other gazillion apps
to type at top speed. Even the default Android keyboard has its speed tricks.
It's Apple that has lagged in the text input department because Apple tightly
controls the system to ensure a constant-safe experience. Finally, an Android
favourite, Swiftkey, turned up on the App Store and though it can't be a part
of the overall iOS system, you can use it separately and even sync it with the
popular Evernote. You get the high-speed predictive text without losing the
look and feel of Apple's environment. Turn an iPad to landscape and use both
hands to type much faster and more accurately, or go one-handed on an iPhone
and text away without mistakes. Some note-taking apps do include predictive
text, but Swiftkey is a proven productivity enhancer.

MBA
SPECIAL IN INDIA SHOULD ONE SPEND LAKHS TO GET MBA FROM ANY INSTITUTE?

Grads
of 37% B-schools start on salary less than Rs 3L/year: Study

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A recent study has punctured the
myth that a B-school degree guarantees a fat pay packet. The average annual
salary offered to students during placements in close to 40% B-schools in the
country is less than Rs 3 lakh, it has revealed.

Students from just 1% of the 4,500
institutes across the country -the top business schools that command Rs 12-15
lakh as course fees -are offered an annual salary upwards of Rs 9 lakh during
campus placement.

The country's MBA dream, says the
Crisil Research report, is fading fast as there is more awareness about the
(lack of) quality , infrastructure and decreasing return on investment.

Around 37% of the Bschools were
placed in the bottom, with many failing sometimes failing to place a single
student. The average annual salary for those more fortunate is Rs 3 lakh. The
largest chunk of B-schools --around 52%--falls in the Tier-III category of the
study , with an average annual salary of Rs 3-5 lakh. That apart, just 60-80%
of students in this category are offered jobs during campus placements.

For the study , Crisil graded
B-schools into four categories based on parameters such as occupancy rate,
number of students placed, average annual salaries offered and average course
fees charged.

The seat occupancy rate is the worst
in the 37% institutes that fall in Tier-IV . It is understandable, given that
several fail to place any student some years; some, though, manage to place up
to 60% of a batch.

The report predicts an improvement
in the occupancy rate in the next two years, though, as several “B-grade
Bschools“ are shutting shop.

“The number of B-schools in the
country swelled to an estimated 4,500 in 2012-13 from 3,000 in 2009-10.
However, in recent times, there are fewer takers for MBA programmes, especially
in Tier-III and Tier-IV B-schools. Consequently , several institutes have had
to shut shop,“ stated the report.

G D Yadav , vice-chancellor of
Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT), who also submitted a report on
vacancies in technical institutes, including engineering and MBA/MMS courses,
said the study is not at all surprising. “Students who lose interest in
engineering also go for an MBA degree. Therefore, more institutes came up. But
not all offered quality education. There will be only a hand ful of institutes
that are good and most sought-after.“ A government official refused to comment
saying such an analysis is never done at the state level, but added it is
“quite possible“.

“Due to low utilization, inadequate
infrastructure, poor placements and unavailability of qualified faculty , we
expect more Tier-IV institutes to shut shop in the near future... We expect the
occupancy rate to improve to 70-72% by 2015-16 from the 68-70% in 2013-14,“
stated the report.

Multinationals
have realised the power of global vision and local action

Does
the future of organisations depend on global organisations becoming more local
or local organisations becoming more global? Where do MNCs draw the line
between global standardisation and local customisation? How do MNCs devise a
strategy on Inputs, Products, Technology, Manufacturing, Brands, Marketing and
Distribution for local markets?Are local units free to experiment fearlessly?
What is the price of failure?

The answer to these and many such questions lies in ‘Global Local’ or ‘Glocal’.
Even as multinationals play an increasingly dominant role in several sectors in
India, they have realised the power of global vision and local action. MNCs
today account for nearly all of India’s carbonated beverages market, over 80
per cent of the passenger car market, more than three-fourths of the consumer
durables industry and about a third of the pharmaceuticals market, to name a
few.

Pepsi India chairman and CEO D. Shivakumar believes “overall, MNCs are held to
a significantly higher standard of integrity than anybody else. But an MNC is
willing to stand up to scrutiny and win. The same rules do not apply to many people
who work with local brands and local markets. We are seeing a two-rule world.
The rules for a big global corporation are very different from those for local
players, whether in South-east Asia or Africa”.

But whether it is companies such as Abbott, which has been in India for 104
years, or Vodafone, which came just six years back, each global firm has had to
devise ingenious ways of winning the local Indian market. If the largest
foreign telco Vodafone innovated the Rs 10 credit and the sachet-type Chhota
Recharge, Abbott’s Truecare is one of the most unique offerings from a
multinational. Truecare (which came with the acquisition of the Piramal pharma
business) is an exclusive portfolio for extra-urban India using low-cost
distribution and marketing infrastructure.

Glocal is
most potent when the local positioning of a brand or a product is vastly
different from its global positioning. Not for nothing does a mass-market car
in the US such as a Toyota Corolla become a premium vehicle in India. You would
say, it is the pricing, stupid (thanks to the high import duty)! Right? Well,
what about McDonald’s or Domino’s? How does one explain the mass-market burger
and pizza chain sitting on the ‘aspiration’ pedestal in India? Or, take the
case of Mexico’s working class beer Corona — it has a premium positioning in
every market, including India.

Pepsi believes tapping into the courageous side of the youth is what makes
Mountain Dew the fastest-growing Pepsi brand in India. The product is as global
as it gets but Pepsi delivers the brand’s global message “Darr ke aagey jeet
hai” (there is triumph beyond fear) to its primary target — the youth — with as
much local flavour as possible.

But the biggest compliment for Glocal comes when local products, strategies, even
advertising get exported to the parent or its international subsidiaries.
Corporations that have developed ingenious ways in the Indian market are
beginning to reap the benefits globally. Honeywell calls it “becoming the
Chinese competitor”. “Take learnings from China and India, translate them to
acquire the most competitive edge that you can get in other parts of the world,
including developed markets,” says Anant Maheshwari, president, Honeywell
India. Even Siemens India revisited its strategy to counter the local players.
“These local players have international aspirations and unless we are
competitive against them, local for local, we will not be competitive against
them internationally,” says Sunil Mathur, CEO, Siemens India.

Says Vanitha Narayanan, managing director, IBM India, “India gives us some of
the most challenging problems to solve. We not only have to solve them but also
at price points that are locally relevant. When you solve these problems in
India, it becomes immediately exportable.”

Honeywell India is replicating, on a small scale, its refinery automation model
developed here in industries such as sugar, chemicals and smaller power plants
in Brazil, Russia, Mexico and Africa. While that may be so, the biggest export
continues to be technology. “The intellectual power of customising and serving
other countries around the world is out of India,” says Maheshwari. Vodafone
India has not only transposed its Big Data capabilities to its parent, it has
even exported the language-neutral zoozoo ads to several markets.

Meanwhile, Standard Chartered Bank is readying a low-cost branch module in
India, hoping to slash branch costs by up to 70 per cent. If it does, StanChart
India CEO Sunil Kaushal believes the model can be replicated across several
markets around the world.

Last, but not the least, MNCs use the power of technology to spread the message
to as local a level as possible — in as short a time as possible. IBM, for
instance, uses its MOOC (massive open online courses) platform to make
available to every IBMer the ‘Think Friday’ dialogue that its chairman and CEO
Ginny Rometty holds with the world’s leading experts on a given topic at the
IBM headquarters in Armonk, US. “The chairman, the senior-most leadership and
the junior-most person that we might have hired last week access learning at
the same time,” says Narayanan.

And, Google India’s tie-up with HRD ministry’s NPTEL (National Programme on
Technology Enhanced Learning), which puts all classes taught at the IITs on its
MOOC platform, has notched up a hundred million views in a week, overtaking
most Bollywood channels on YouTube. How’s that for instant
Glocalisation?

﻿Although, it's not snowing outside
and the weather is not chilly, you could still catch a common cold with you
throat hurting terribly . Hay fever is a condition that shows similar signs as
that of cold and is common during summer. The scorching heat makes it worse, as
we wish to keep our body temperatures cool, to beat the heat. Here are few tips
to get rid of this fever-like feeling.

AVOID DRINKING VERY COLD WATER

We tend to drink very cold water as soon as we
come indoors after staying out for long. This might give you immediate relief
from the heat, but it harms your system severely.
The body fails to maintain a balance between the two extreme temperatures, and
that's when you get a sore throat. Mix normal and cold water, and drink the
same sip by sip, instead of gulping it all at once. Also, make sure the
proportion of cold water to that of normal is slightly less.

GET RID OF DUST

Make sure things around you are not
dusty . Although dust is something we can't avoid due to regular travel, get
rid of it once you are back home. Dust your clothes and then put them in the
laundry bag, similarly, wipe your bag, and everything that comes in contact
with pollution.
Also, make sure your house is not dusty, since it might trigger the sneezing
and coughing.

USE SLIGHTLY WARM WATER TO BATHE

Having a cold bath is quite
relaxing, however, it suddenly cools off your body temperature, which can be harmful.
Use slightly warm water while you start the shower and you can continue to a
cooler shower after the body temperature is stable.

TAKE A SHOWER AS SOON AS YOU COME HOME

Do not stay sweaty and dirty; take a
shower as soon as you come home. This helps you get rid of all the dust, dirt
and germs you have been in contact with throughout the day . Sweat, if stays on
your body for long, tends to dry and soak into your skin, along with its
impurities.
A shower can help immensely .

SHELVE
FOOTWEAR AND BAGS

Do not leave your footwear, bags,
socks, or anything that you wear everyday in the open to spread dirt and germs.
Put your shoes into a rack as soon you step in since you can't wash them every
day, make a special place to store bags and put those socks in the laundry bag
as soon you remove them. This helps in preventing the germs from spreading in
the house.